FAQs About Family Therapy, Counseling, and Coaching in Riverside, CA

You’ve probably heard the terms therapy, counseling, and coaching used interchangeably and you’ve maybe never given much thought about the differences until you’re looking for someone to help you. You want to make sure you’re choosing the right person to give you support when it’s your most important relationships that need help.

When it comes to family counseling, there are a few paths you can take to help your family. The next two sections review each field that you have likely come across in your search for family help. I’ll also briefly explain what all the letters mean: PhD, LMFT, LPCC, etc. And I’ll finish by answering a few more questions about what to expect from family counseling in Riverside with me.

I’ve also written a guide for how to find the right family therapist for you.

Is Therapy the Same as Counseling?

Yes and no. Therapy serves to heal or relieve a disorder or illness. Counseling can be defined as professional guidance and is for helping to make decisions or guiding people on a particular topic or challenge. There is A LOT of overlap between therapy and counseling, and many people use the terms interchangeably.

In California, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Psychologists, and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors are all considered psychotherapists. People go to physical therapy to help with physical injuries, speech therapy to help with speech problems, and psychotherapy to help with emotional, relationship, or mental illness problems. All psychotherapists are required to have education and experience to be licensed in California. There are differences in how each of these professions are trained and what they focus on, which I’ll explain later.

Any counseling that is also psychotherapy is basically the same as mental health therapy. But there are other types of counseling that are very different from therapy. This might be career counseling, biblical or religious counseling, financial counseling, credit counseling, etc. It is actually illegal for someone to misrepresent themselves in advertising or to practice psychotherapy without a license. If you want to check out if your potential therapist or counselor has a valid license in California, you can look them up on the state website to verify.

What’s the Difference Between Therapy and Coaching?

Coaching is very solution-focused, doesn’t focus on the past, and there is no regulatory board to oversee the people who have taken classes (often a 6 - 9 month course where the teachers don’t necessarily have a degree in mental health). Prices vary with coaching, but often, those trained to become coaches have little to no consultation or supervision.

A coach is not trained to diagnose or recognize symptoms of trauma - crucial abilities that ensure clinical discernment when working with clients. Therapists are trained to diagnose and treat certain diagnoses and refer out when something like an eating disorder, schizophrenia, or PTSD is involved.

Coaching can be very helpful when focused on a particular issue, such as business coaching or preparing for interviews or college admissions. Individual coaches may also be helpful in providing support for mental, emotional, or family challenges. There is more risk to the consumer/client in working with a coach for mental health issues because they don’t have the same training as therapists, and there is no licensing board or professional ethics committee monitoring whether they have the right education or responding to complaints if clients are mistreated.

What Do All the Letters Mean? (LMFT, LCSW, PSY, PhD, etc.)

An LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - they have completed at minimum a masters degree, completed 3000 hours of supervised experience in the field, and passed two licensing exams (law and ethics and the clinical exam). LMFT education and experience is focused on family relationships, family systems, and child development.

An LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker - also someone who has a masters degree, completed supervised hours and passed licensing exams. Social work tends to specialize in larger systems (communities, non-profits, government agencies) and are specialists in finding resources for clients. LCSWs can also diagnose and treat mental health conditions, though they may not have any specialized training in couples and families.

An LPCC is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor - they have completed at least a masters degree, completed required supervised hours, and have passed licensing exams. The LPCC is the newest mental health license in California. LPCCs are often not trained in couples and families but have additional training in working in a school or career setting.  

A PSY is a Psychologist with a doctoral degree. They tend to focus more on conducting evaluations and diagnosis of complex mental health issues. You or your child may see a psychologist if you are being evaluated for ADHD, Autism, or another disability and need paperwork documenting the diagnosis to get appropriate accommodations in school or work.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and I can diagnose and treat individuals and work with couples and families. 

Do I Need Weekly Therapy?

While everyone’s financial and emotional needs vary, we always recommend starting with weekly sessions. Usually when someone reaches out for therapy they are motivated to see changes now, and we want to work with that to help them have some relief quickly. It’s also worth saying that a few sessions are needed for your therapist to get to know your family and your situation. You might come to 3 or 4 sessions before you’re really into the phase of therapy where we’re making significant change, and we don’t want to drag that out over months. It can also take a while for you to build trust with your therapist, and that happens best over regular contact.

Regular weekly attendance is the norm for mental health treatment with the clinician and client regularly checking in to make sure needs are being met and progress is being made. Once a client has skills to use to help them, bi weekly and monthly sessions start to make clinical sense. 

Oftentimes, people have been struggling for years, especially with family issues. When I work with families, it is understood that weekly sessions are crucial to “graduating” from therapy sooner and needing fewer sessions as the family transitions out of therapy.

How Long Does Therapy Usually Last?

This truly depends on the family’s goals and how cooperative and invested everyone is in the sessions. If each individual can do their part inside and outside of a session - and they consistently do this, change will happen sooner. But change also takes time - it’s difficult to implement new and foreign behaviors when you’re used to behaving and functioning in a certain way.

At Inland Empire Couples Counseling we are focused on your progress. We will ask you in the first session how you will know when you don’t need therapy anymore. And then we check in regularly to make sure we are moving you closer to that place where your problems are fixed (or fixed enough that you don’t need our help any longer). At the end of every session we will ask you some questions that help us track our progress and also give you the chance to tell us what’s working and not. Over time, your sessions will get better and more effective as we get to know you and what works for you.

Each couple or family is different. You come with your own challenges and backstory. You might come see us at the first start of problems or you might have years worth of issues to work through. Some of you might have lots of time outside of therapy to work on your relationship and some of you are so overwhelmed that the only time you have to work on your family relationships is in our sessions together. All of this is okay with us, but each of these factors impacts how many therapy sessions you might need/want. Our data tell us that most people who come see us and get good results come for an average of 16 sessions. That’s about 4 months of weekly therapy. And that’s an average, so some are less and some much more. Whether you decide to work with one of our therapists here or with another family therapist in Riverside CA or online, we want you to know that you can talk to your therapist about what’s working and not in your therapy and that you should expect to see change. If you’re meeting with someone and things aren’t getting better, speak up or find another therapist who is a better fit for you!

Alexis Johnson, LMFT, is a dedicated and creative couples and family therapist in Riverside, CA, who helps partners and families heal old hurts, strengthen connections, and navigate the complex dynamics that shape their relationships. With experience working with individuals, teens, families, and couples, she meets clients exactly where they are and empowers them to create meaningful, lasting change. 

Alexis earned her Master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California.

Outside the therapy room, she enjoys slow mornings, good books, time with friends, and the same personal growth practices she encourages in her clients—because she believes deeply in practicing what she teaches.